Although there are apparently stringent rules to govern the bonded warehousing facility to firms, particularly garment exporters, the allegation that raw and packing materials imported free of costs and warehoused under the supervision of the Customs wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) are recklessly pilfered.
It is alleged that taking advantage of the bonded warehousing facility, some dishonest exporters misuse the system by selling the duty-free imported goods in the local market, instead of using them in their set production line. According to a news report published in a national daily on Thursday, the Customs office has detected irregularities of Tk 147 crore tax evasion in an export-oriented factory at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone by misusing the bonded facility.
Besides, on January 18, customs officials also managed to foil the sale of 75,000 kgs raw materials meant for rubber products in the open market in Cumilla, carried in six covered vans. In 2019, the NBR had carried out combing operations against the misuse of bonded facility in Islampur of Dhaka city, several points in Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Sirajganj. But again these unscrupulous businessmen have become active to misuse this faclity.
It is indeed shocking that raw and packaging materials are imported under fraudulent documents at the expense of huge government revenue. The fraud licence holders sometimes also use fake addresses to escape the monitoring mechanism.
But the big question that cannot be avoided is the manner in which it is practiced. For, it is the customs officials who are the custodians of bonded warehouses. They are meant to guard against any kind of misdeed. The common perception is that it is a well-protected system, and with its continuation over the decades it should have been protected enough to detect and stop any malpractice.
In fact, bonded warehousing is a service that allows exporters to import and store their raw materials without payment of customs duties for a certain period of time until these are used in the manufacture of export products. In Bangladesh, it was instrumental in bringing much vigour and dynamism that the country’s export sector needed badly in the early 80’s when garment export began to indicate signs of promise.
Currently, the number of bond licence holders is about 6,565. But due to irregularities, licenses of 1,757 have been suspended.
Since the issue of misuse of bonded facility has been raised, we hope the matter should receive due attention from relevant quarters, and not get muted like many such wrongdoings.
It is alleged that taking advantage of the bonded warehousing facility, some dishonest exporters misuse the system by selling the duty-free imported goods in the local market, instead of using them in their set production line. According to a news report published in a national daily on Thursday, the Customs office has detected irregularities of Tk 147 crore tax evasion in an export-oriented factory at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone by misusing the bonded facility.
Besides, on January 18, customs officials also managed to foil the sale of 75,000 kgs raw materials meant for rubber products in the open market in Cumilla, carried in six covered vans. In 2019, the NBR had carried out combing operations against the misuse of bonded facility in Islampur of Dhaka city, several points in Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Sirajganj. But again these unscrupulous businessmen have become active to misuse this faclity.
It is indeed shocking that raw and packaging materials are imported under fraudulent documents at the expense of huge government revenue. The fraud licence holders sometimes also use fake addresses to escape the monitoring mechanism.
But the big question that cannot be avoided is the manner in which it is practiced. For, it is the customs officials who are the custodians of bonded warehouses. They are meant to guard against any kind of misdeed. The common perception is that it is a well-protected system, and with its continuation over the decades it should have been protected enough to detect and stop any malpractice.
In fact, bonded warehousing is a service that allows exporters to import and store their raw materials without payment of customs duties for a certain period of time until these are used in the manufacture of export products. In Bangladesh, it was instrumental in bringing much vigour and dynamism that the country’s export sector needed badly in the early 80’s when garment export began to indicate signs of promise.
Currently, the number of bond licence holders is about 6,565. But due to irregularities, licenses of 1,757 have been suspended.
Since the issue of misuse of bonded facility has been raised, we hope the matter should receive due attention from relevant quarters, and not get muted like many such wrongdoings.
